Albuquerque's
Environmental StoryAlbuquerque's
Environmental StoryIdentify the limiting factors on your school grounds. Design plants and animals that could survive under conditions in which the quality or amount of one of these factors was unfavorable.
What are the roles of soil quality, sunlight, temperature, availability of water and space in determining the kinds and numbers of organisms that can survive in a given environment?
What adaptations enable plants and animals to survive in high temperatures? What relationships might exist between an organism's body surface area and the climate? Can you give examples of this relationship?
Examine a sample of soil from your yard. (See illustration below and on the next page for a comparison of mountain soils and soils found in the city.) Trade a bucket of your soil for some soil from a school or home in a different part of the city (Valley, Mesa, Heights, Mountain). Compare color, texture, porosity, and composition.
Soils are composed of transported particles, mostly water deposited.
Creation of soil from Jointed Bedrock
What differences do you notice? What accounts for these differences? How were these soils formed?
How can these differences explain such things as water retention, erosion, flooding, and gardening value?
How does your soil compare with potting soil? Set up a seed germinating experiment using several types of soil.
Why might some plants be better able to live in poor soil than other plants?
Observe one small area outside the school for three days. Record the changes and their causes on a chart. Repeat this throughout the year to note seasonal changes.
Change
Cause
seasons
weather
time
oxidation
people
other
melting ice
taller grass
rusting
etc.
In spring or fall, count the number of seeds from a schoolyard tree which have fallen on one square meter of ground around the tree.
How many square meters are covered by seeds from this tree?
Approximately how many seeds came from this one tree?
What would the schoolyard look like if all these seeds germinated?
Why do so few produce trees?
What is a population explosion? What happens in human communities when there is a population explosion?
Conduct research to find out how the utilization of school grounds is determined.
Are there laws which establish minimum size of playgrounds?
How can community groups express their views about how school grounds should be utilized?
How can your class obtain permission to plant a small garden on the school grounds?
What factors would you consider before deciding what and how to plant?
Place a little Vaseline on an index card. Lay the card near an open window. Examine it at the end of the day. Repeat this on windy days and on calm days.
Has much dust collected on the Vaseline? Is there a noticeable difference between a windy day and a calm day?
Are there unpaved roads in your vicinity? Arroyos? Vacant lots?
If there are unpaved roads, what is being done about getting them paved?
What part does dust play in causing air pollution in Albuquerque?
(Up to Section IV, Back to Eye Opener Activities 6, On to Activities for the Senses and Sensibilities 6)
